About Me

A very warm welcome to the blog of Madhwa Brahmins community.We, Madhwa Brahmins are followers of Jagadguru Sriman Madhwacharya. We originally hail from places in Karnataka and the neighboring states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Our main dialects are Kannada, Tulu, Marathi, Telugu and Konkani.

As the above shloka from khila vAyustuti explains, Sri Madhwacharya (also known by the names Poornaprajna and Anandateertha) is the third incarnation of Lord MukhyaprAna Vaayu, after Lord Hanuman and Lord Bheemasena. He is the chief proponent of TattvavAda, popularly known as Dvaita. He was born on Vijayadashami day of 1238 CE at Paajaka Kshetra, a small village near Udupi. He is the 22nd commentator on the Brahma sutras of Lord Sri Veda Vyasa.

Kindly note that this blog contains important topics discussed in our Orkut community and some articles on tattvavAda philosophy. All the topics can be found in the BLOG ARCHIVE (right side)

Introduction

manyu sUkta appears in two places in vedic literature:RugvEda (maMDala: 10, sUkta: 83-4) and atharvavEda (kAMDa: 4 and sUkta: 31-2). Apart from a few differences in the text, more or less the two are same.

The 83rd sUkta [yastE manyO...] in the RugvEda is the 32nd sUkta in atharvavEda; the 84th sUkta [tvayA manyO] is the 31st sUkta there.

The name of one sUkta is ‘sEnAsaMyOjanasUkta’ [yastE manyO...] and the name of the other sUkta is ‘sEnAnirIkShaNasUkta’ [tvayA manyO...]

manyusUkta in RugvEdaRuShi: tApasa manyudEvata: manyuChaMdas: first three maMtra-s of the sUkta “tvayA manyO” is triShTup; next four maMtra-s are in jagatI

manyusUkta in atharvavEdaRuShi: brahmAskaMdadEvata: manyuChaMdas: 1st and 3rd maMtra-s are in triShTup; 2nd and 4th in bhurik-triShTup; last 3 maMtra-s are in jagatI.

The version that is in practice today everywhere is the one from RugvEda and hence will be followed here too.

It is a practice to know the RuShi (the maMtra-draShTara), ChaMdas (prosody) and the dEvata (presiding deity) of any vedic mantra before recitation.

The ‘sarvAnukramaNi’ speaks about these sUkta-s from the RugvEda like this:

The meaning of the above: The sUkta that begins with ‘yastE manyO’ and the sUkta following it has ‘manyu tApasa’ as the RuShi and ‘manyu’ as the presiding deity. The prosody of the 1st mantra of the 1st sUkta is jagatI. The remaing 6 mantras are in triShTup; The second sUkta starting with ‘tvayA manyO’ has the last four mantras in jagatI; the 1st three are in triShTup.

The RuShi of the both these sUkta-s is manyu; the dEvata too is manyu!

Presiding deity

Who is this manyu dEvata? Some say, manyu means anger (krOdha) and hence the presiding deity of anger is the dEvata of the sUkta-s.

But who is this krOdhAbhimAni?People say it is rudra: rudrashcha krOdhasaMbhavaH

However those who have understood the scriptures know that the indweller (aMtarayAmi) of rudra, Lord Narasimha is manyu.

Isn’t narasimha anger incarnate? Even brahma-rudra and others felt scared to pacify the rage of narasimha. It was only when He saw the kid prahlAda, He regained composure.manyu not only means anger, it also means knowledge. ‘mana j~jAnE’. Even the anger of narasimha is the form of knowledge. Hence He is the real manyu.

mantra RuShi

Who is this RuShi, tApasa manyu?He could be some ancient sage.It was only AchArya madhva who made this amaxinh revelation in his mahAbhArata-tAtparya nirNaya:

[bhImasEna ‘saw’ the manyusUkta ‘yastE manyO’; while contemplating on the omnipotent Lord narasimha, while ripping the chest of duHshAsana. Hence this is a narasimha sUkta. In this sacrifice of battle, he offered to the Lord the sOma juice called the blood drained from the chest of duHshAsana].

One single mantra can be perceived by several RuShi-s. Therefore all the three, bramAskaMda, tApasamanyu and bhImasEna are the RuShi-s.

tApasamanyu could be none other than bhImasEna. He was an ascetic (tApasa) who lived in the forest. He was also ‘manyu’ who stood in battle against the kaurava-s. He is also the form of knowledge praised as ‘darshata’ in the vEda-s.

‘tapas’ means the Lord who is j~jAnasvarUpa. Being His aMtaraMga bhakta and also His son in His original form, bhImasEna is tApasa. Since he is going to reach the position of brahma in the future, he is alos brahmAskaMda: ‘skaMdir gatau’.

The surprising fact is that the entire sUkta is very similar to the incidents of the mahAbhArata! The story of bhIma’s fight becomes more significant and meaningful to us than the story of battle of some unknown manyu or some brAmhaskaMda.Hence let us analyse the sUkta in this perspective.

ChaMdas

Having known that the mantra RuShi is bhImasEna and presiding deity is Lord narasimha, let us look into the ChaMdas of the mantras.

(I am giving just a brief information about the prosody compared to what is in the book)

The 1st mantra of the 1st sUkta is in “jagatI”jagatI has 4 lines of 12 alphabets in each summing up to 48 letters.

The rest of the 6 mantras are in triShTup.triShTup has 4 lines of 11 letters each, having a total of 44 letters.

In the second sUkta, the 1st 3 mantras are in triShTup and last 4 in jagatI.

The presiding deity of triShTup is shachi and that of jagatI is all dEvata strI-s.

triShTup is a ChaMdas comprising of 11 alphabets in each line and related to the 11 rudra-s (EkAdasha rudra-s)jagatI is a ChaMdas comprising of 12 alphabets in each line and related to the 12 Aditya-s (dvAdasha Aditya-s) and predominantly viShNu.

sUkta 1 mantra 1

The author Shri Bannanje Govindacharya has referred to the commentaries of shri Dhirendra Tirtha and shri Atmakur Padmanabhacharya on manyusUkta.

yaH = who; tE = you; manyO = Oh the angered God!; avidhat = who worships you (he); vajra = dreadful like lightening; sāyaka = one who attacks like an arrow; saha = insurmountable prowess; Ojaḥ = the strength to defeat; puṣyati = fills oneself; viśvaM = entire/complete; ānuṣak = gather/collect ; sāhyāma = we will win; dāsam = the enemy of the world; āryaṃ = the righteous people; tvayā = by you; yujā = the companion;sahaH + kṛtena = that came out of strength, filled us with power; sahasā = who is the form of strength; sahasvatā = He who is strong, who forgives mistakes.

Summary:

[Having ripped apart the chest of duHshAsana, bhIma prays to Lord narasimha who made him do the act]

Oh! The embodiment of knowledge! Oh narasihma who got infuriated over sinners! Oh the one who pounces on enemies like a lightening! Oh the sharp arrow who pierces and kills enemies! He who worships You in accordance with scriptural injunctions, gathers and fills oneself, complete insurmountable strength and the strength to defeat all. You, who is the form of strength, forgiving mistakes, filling us with undefeatable strength, staying with us, we would win those on the side of dhuryOdhana, the enemy of the world and those elders like bhIShma, drONa and others who stood with him.

manyuH = angered Narasimha; iMdraH = the supreme Lord (omnipotent), the Lord in pradyumna rUpa, dwelling inside iMdra He who gave victory to all gods, dwelling inside arjuna who was the amsha of iMDra and gave him victory; manyuH Eva = the infuriated Narasimha; asa = he is; dEvaH = the Lord of lords vAsudEva, the one who came as the charioteer of arjuna vAsudEva kRuShNa; manyuH = the enraged Narasimha; hOtA= saMkarShaNa who sacrifices all living beings in the fire of praLaya, He who inside dharmarAja sacrificing all sinners in the fire of hell; varuNaH= staying inside varuNa He who created night, aniruddha who filled inside the universe for sustenance; jAta + vEdAH =He who revealed the Vedas, the one who is the light in fire giving knowledge of all objects, nArAyaNa who has complete knowledge of everything created; manyuM = the infuriated naraishma; vishaH = people; ILatE = praise; mAnuShiH = those who contemplate (mananashIlAH); yAH = those ; pAhi = protect; manyO = Oh angry narasimha; tapasA = for the penance I performed sa + jOShAH = having the same love towards all of us.

The infuriated narasimha being iMdra (sarvEshavara) and being inside iMdra brought victory to the gods; dwelling inside arjuna who was the amsha of iMdra brought victory to the pAMDava-s. Being inside me who is the incarnation of prANa of the name iMdra (iMdra nAmaka prANa) got me victory; He is only pradyumna of the name ‘iMdra’.The same narasimha has come as the son of vasudEva, as vAsudEva kruShNa; He is only vAsudEva the giver of liberation.During praLaya He is the destroying force saMkarShaNa who sacrifices beings in the fire of annihilation of this creation. Being inside yudhiShThira, the amsha of yamadharma who sacrifices sinners in the fire of hell He was the one who directed the pAMDava-s.Dwelling inside shaMtanu who was the incarnation of varuNa, He brought this kuru dynasty to birth. Being inside bhIShma, drONa and others who executed the task of commander-in-chief owing to the obligation towards dhuryOdhana, being inside karNa who played commander due to his friendship with dhuryOdhana and dwelling within shalya who took the role of leader of the army due to his hospitality, it was actually He who led the kaurava army. It is narasimha who pervades everywhere in the world for protection as aniruddha.Dwelling within the amsha of agni, dRuShTadyumna it was He who led our army. He is the one who is called jAtavEda being inside fire.He is narAyaNa who knows all creation. Disclosing all Vedas He is the one who is vEdavyAsa known as jAtavEda and who became our grandfather. Those people who are contemplative sing the glory of such a narasimha. Oh the enraged narasimha! Pleased by my penance , by my worship, love all the five of us in the same way and protect us.

abhi + ihi = come here; manyO = infuriated narasimha; tapasaH = than the strong; tavIyAn = who is strong; tapasA = with the strength of heat (fire/saMtApashakti); yujA = being together; vi jahi = kick out; shatrUn = enemies; amitra+ hA = He who kills those who stand against us; vRutra + hA = He who kills the army which has encircled us; dasyu + hA cha = He who kills dhuryOdhana and others also who are the thorns of the world;vishvA = all; vasUni = of wealths; A bhara = get and give; tvaM= you; naH = for us.

Oh enraged narasimha! You who is the strongest among all strong men, come here. From the power of brilliance enjoined with you kick all the enemies out. You are the one who kills karNa and others who come in front; You are the one who kills the army that has surrounded us; You are the one who also kills dhuryOdhana and others who are the thorns to the world. Killing them, You get us all wealth.

tvaM hi = aren’t You; manyO = the infuriated narasimha; abhibhUti + OjAH = the one with the brilliance of defeating enemies;svayaM + bhU = He who came by manifesting Himself; bhAMaH= one who is angered; abhimAti + sahaH = He who broke the pride of enemies;vishva + charShaNiH = one who is capable of seeing everything; sahuriH = He who is never subdued by anyone ; sahAvAn = one who pardons mistakes of those who come to Him in faith;asmAsu = in us; OjaH = the prowess to vanquish enemies; pRutanAsu = in the armies; dhEhi = give.

Oh narasimha, aren’t You the one who vanquishes enemies? Aren’t You the one who manifests yourself on your own? Aren’t You the one who got enraged over your enemies? Aren’t You the one who broke the pride of those who resorted to inflicting pain? Aren’t You the one who can see everything through your own eyes? Aren’t You the lone hero of the entire world who never bends to anyone? Aren’t You the one who protect us pardoning our mistakes? Give us and our armies the strength to defeat our enemies.

abhAgaH san = not taking any share; apa parA+itaH asmi = having lost the kingdom I got to move away; tava= your; kratvA = from Your cause, from the desire which is full of knowledge; taviShasya = that which is the superior reality; pra + chEtah = Oh the treasure of knowledge; taM = that kind of; tvA = you ; manyO = Oh angered narasimha; jihILa = moved away rejecting; ahaM = I ; bala+dEyAya = for giving strength mA = for me ; A ihi = come and join.

Oh the all-knowing narasimha! Rejecting the share of kingdom entitled to us, I roamed in the forest according to your wish; I moved away without participating in you task of cleaning the world. I also gave you up, gave up your duty and stood inactive. I am your exact mould; your predominant image; a major organ in the task of cleansing the world. Come here, come to me to give me strength.

ayaM = this me; tE = is yours; asmi = I am; upa mA A ihi = come to me; arvA~j = being in front;pratIchInaH = facing the enemies; sahurE = one who doesn’t bend down to enemies; vishva + dhAyaH = He who is carrying the universe;manyO = enraged narasimha; vajrin = one who has held lightening; abhi mAM = around me; A vavRutsva = be my protection;hanAva = let us kill; dasyUn = the thorns of the society; uta= and; bOdhi = advice; ApEH = kinsmen.

Oh! the one who eliminated enemies, Oh! the one who is carrying the world, Oh! infuriated narasimha, Oh! the one who has come holding lightening, Oh! the one who indwelled in iMdra and bestowed victory to the gods, the one resided in arjuna, the incarnation of iMdra and gave us victory, here I am yours. Be in front of me, behind me, next to me and all around me as my protecting shield. Let us terminate the thorns of the society. Impart wisdom and show the right path to my kinsmen who haven’t engaged themselves completely in eliminating the evil.

Come here. Come and stand to my right side. Then let us finish all the enemies in groups who have surrounded us. Holding in my palms, I am offering you the sweet juice of blood drained from the chest of duHShAsana; Let us relish it in privacy, just the two of us, being the first ones. [As madhva I am going to expound the greatness of your form which is the very foundation of the world; I am going to show the important meaning of the Vedas which talk about your greatness. Let both of us relish the sweetness of this meaning of the Vedas as the first ones].

Oh the master of deities, Oh narasimha, I come along with you moving ahead on the chariot, let the leaders of our armies rush forward burning enemies like fire, jumping in joy; bloating with pride; throwing sharp arrows; sharpening weapons.

Oh narasimha, destroy enemies by spitting flames like fire. Oh the one with insurmountable valour, come heeding to our call; Come as the leader of our army. Distribute to us our wealth, killing our enemies. Injure those who come to fight, by filling us with the strength to win them.

Oh narasimha, finish off that duHshAsana who is causing menace to me throughout my life. Come towards the enemies causing them injury; breaking their pride; breaking their bones. Haven’t they tried to go against your supreme anger? The unparalleled hero who can fight without any help, who has got everything under your control is capable of getting them under your charge.

Oh narasimha, You alone, who is praised by everyone, can face the filled army of the enemies. Similarly, make every single soldier ready to fight. Oh the indestructible radiance, when you are with us, as a sign of this special victory [having torn the chest of duHshAsana open], we roar like a lion having the tone of victory.

Oh narasimha, you who do not speak inferior words, giving us victory like how dEvEMdra gives to the deities, residing inside me like how you are in arjuna who is the amsha of iMdra, in this battle, become our leader and protect us. Oh the insurmountable hero, we chant and praise your most desired name. You get pleased by that and manifest yourself. We know your enthusiasm for protecting devotees.

A + bhUtyA = from the strength of defeating enemies, saha + jAH = manifested with it, vajra = Oh the one who attacks like lightening, Oh the one devoid of defects, sAyaka = Oh the slayer,saHa = the insurmountable hero, bibharShi = you are holding, abhi + bhUtE = he who defeats enemies, ut + taraM = the superior one, kratvA = from the act of combating, naH = regarding us, manyO = Oh narasimha, saha = together, mEdI = he who has friendship, Edhi = you become, mahA + dhanasya = of the war, puru + hUta = one who is eulogised with several names, sam + sRuji = in the friction.

Oh! the one who assails like a lightening, Oh! the one without any defects, Oh! the one who attacks like an arrow, you are the one who came along with the natural prowess of destroying enemies. Oh! the one who subdues enemies, you are the one who came with the supreme might that doesn’t succumb to others. Oh the one talked by the Vedas, Oh narasimha, in this friction of war, along with the zest to fight show us friendship kindly.

Gathering both kinds of wealth, let aniruddha -the sustainer and narasimha – the destroyer, give us after winning. Let our enemies get filled with fear, get defeated completely and fade away into dark misery.

Here ends the explanation to manyusUkta.

Kindly let me know any mistakes you find out in this translation.

||bhAratIramaNa-mukhyaprANAMtargata shrI lakshmInarasimhArpaNamastu||

16 comments:

This is one best thing I ever read.I have been fond of finding meaning of Manyu Suktam and your translation is excellant.

Sir I would like to differ you in the opinion that this is about Narasimha, I do not know and I think it is about Rudra as it is being used in practice.I would have loved if you had a summary with manyu not being replaced with Narasimha. But I think I can derive from it.

I appreciate the efforts of the author in explaining the meaning of Manyu Suktam. However, the author makes an erroneous statement in defining who the 'God Manyu' is. One can debate whether Manyu is Lord Narasimha, Rudra or to some extent Hanuman. But to say that Manyu is Bhimasensa of Mahabharat is incorrect. Firstly, vedas as we know them, have been there even before Ramayan time (1.7 Million years ago). Lord Surya gave Vedas to Manu. Maharshi Vasistha taught Vedas to Rama and his brothers. So Manyu suktam was there even before Bhimsena (Mahabharat time 5,300 BC)was born. It was Mahairshi Vyasa during Mahabharat time who separated Veda knowledge in to four vedas (Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharvana Vedas) and got the name Veda Vyasa.

Bhimasena is not God Manyu. He was a soul specifically given birth by Lord Vayu for Mahabharat episode. After death Bhimsena's soul went to heaven and later merged with Vayu. So did the souls of other Pandavas - Yudhister merged with Dharma, Arjuna with Indra, Nakul and Sahadev with Ashwins). Whereas Lord Hanuman's soul was created by Lord Shiva, and with assistance of Lord Vayu, the soul energy was given to Anjana. Lord Hanuman is a Chiranjeevi. One difference between humanbeings and Gods is that Gods are Chiranjeevis. They don't die as we do and they execute their duties with regard to the welfare of the souls taking birth on the Earth (humanbeings) with perfection. However, they may have weaknesses that we have (Ex: Indra sometimes shows jealousy, Chandra apparently seduced wife of a rishi, Chandra laughed at Ganesh, Rudra (shiva) loses temper and destroys only to be pleaded by other Gods to restore etc....). So Bhimasena's normal human death and subsequent merging of his soul with Lord Vayu, should tell us that he is not God and is not Manyu.

As a corollary, even Gods die at the end of Mahapralaya, they all merge with Sada Shiva, who himself along with Shakti merges with the one and only Supreme God (the form which we don't know and will never know as human beings - Nasadiya Suktam from Rig Veda clearly says so. The most we can learn about spirituality is Shakti, Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma and other Gods and our relation to them ). If we reach them that is Moksha.

God is in every one of us, so was the God in Bhimsena. But it does not make Bhimsensa the God Manyu.

Nowhere it is written in the article that Bhimasena is Manyu God. Please read again. It only says that Bhimasena is one of the Rushis (tApasa manyu) of the sukta.

Further your comment about Lord Hanumantha's soul being created by Shiva, all the devatas merging in Shiva, Shiva himself merging with Supreme God, etc. are not correct, and do not agree with tattvavaada philosophy.

Patanjali's comments are very valid and make sense. Again you have said Bheemasena is tApasa manyu, a Rishi. Why are we trying to deduce from unknowns ? Where is it said that Bhimasena was tApasa manyu? Please note that these Rishis to whom vedas revealed on its own were in krita yuga and not dwaapara.

One more suggestion is that we need to think lot above the characters of itihaasa and puraanas. Vedas are ultimate for us, they are the omnipresent light and these puraanas and other texts support the understanding of vedas.

Also, Sriman Madhwacharya is said to be an incaranate of Bheema and Hanumaan. Hanumaan led a divine life so it is ok to accept his oneness with Sriman Madhwa. Whereas, Bheema just led a ordinary life of a Kshartiya. No doubt he demonstrated a great sense of dharma and valor, still he was food-centric throughout. During the swargaarohana, on Bheema's fall, Dharmaraya clearly tells others that - "Bheema always was always behind food and nothing else. He acted selfish manytimes when it came to food."

You still want to equate Sriman Madhwa to Bheema - your wish. Again equating with Hanumaan, i am in agreement.

("The Deity whose three divine forms are spoken of in the Vedas, as one whose nature is that of great wisdom and ability, is the support of the activity of the worlds, is very worshipful, and who incarnates with his full potency; that Vayu, in his first avatara, carried the message of Rama, destroyed a fearsome army in his second, and in the third, as Madhva, composed this work (VTV) as a service to Keshava.")

I am born in Brahmin family but I do not call myself a Brahmin yet as I need to learn a lot to be qualified as Brahmin.

Thanks for a good translation. Although there were arguments I think it all represents the power and source of energy and goodness within of the God we may call him Narasimha or Bheemasena I think it doesn't matter. We eat food to enjoy the taste and food gives us energy to live call it french fries or call it finger chips or call it by your own name as long as it has same taste and gives same energy it ll not change. Lets focus on learning it is very important for our generation to do so. (My comment is not for or against anyone so please don't get offended)

shri deepak ji please understand that "rishi" does not only mean a sage.Whoever finds a true answer and meaning of any aadhyatmic hymn inside himself is a "rishi".Lord Bhimasena while killing Dushyasana,found the meaning of manyu sookta in his inner self and hence gave the "Havis" of Dushasana's blood to "Manyu"-Narasimha.Hence Bhimasena is a rishi.Whenever any Devatas incarnate in human forms,either they have to die or leave their bodies.It is prakruthi niyama.Lord Bhimasena left his body or for that matter all pandavas left their bodies;they did not die.Hence Lord Bhimasena was not only a mere kshatriya but Lord Vaayu himself(incarnation).It is portrayed that Lord Bhimasena is gigantic.That doesn't mean that he was only foodaholic.A mother knows how and when to feed her children.Kunthi had always given half of the food to Bhima and hence it became a procedure with the pandavas.Also a person has stated lord rudra as manyu.It is completely wrong.If one understands srushti and laya of all devatas and the world,then it would be clear.Lord Narasimha(Narayana) himsehf gives moksha to Brahma and vaayu devatas.When we all agree that Lord Brahma was the creator of this universe,we should understand that Lord Vishnu is the only Omnipotent.Why,so many stories and vedas have shown that all asuras ranging from Hiranyakashyapa,Ravana,etc... have got blessings from shiva or Brahma.Why not vishnu? Because,for Vishnu to Bless you,you and your intentions should be right and wise.That is why,Sri Hari is Sarvottama and hence He is "MANYU"With Regards,Shri Satyatma daasa

patajanli- first of all stop confusing others hanuman, bheema, madhvacharya, all are incarnations of lord vayu btw he never said that manyu is bheema he only said rishi of this sukta is bheema and hanuman soul is not created by shiva nobody can create the soul so stop misleading others.